Donald Bentley

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Donald Lyon Bentley is an American statistician and mathematician. [1] A doctoral student of biostatistician Rupert Griel Miller at the Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences, [2] [3] Bentley graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Mathematics and Statistics in 1962. [3] [4] He then taught at the Mathematics and Statistics Department of Pomona College in Claremont, California from 1964 to 2001, [5] becoming Lingurn H. Burkhead Professor of Mathematics, [6] an endowed chair, before retiring to become a professor emeritus. [1] He was also president of the Southern California Chapter of the American Statistical Association from 1987 to 1988, [7] and was named a Fellow of the American Statistical Association in 1990. [8]

Bentley is known locally for his role in creating Pomona College's tradition of revering the number 47. [6] [5] It began in the summer of 1964, [9] when two students, Laurie Mets and Bruce Elgin, conducted a research project seeking to find out whether the number occurs more often in nature than would be expected by chance. They documented various 47 sightings, and Bentley produced a false mathematical proof that 47 was equal to all other integers. The number became a meme among the class, which spread once the academic year began and snowballed over time. [10] Many Pomona alumni have since deliberately inserted 47 references into their work. [11] In the early 2010s, the college's clock tower would chime on the 47th minute of the hour. [12]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Donald Bentley". Pomona College. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
  2. ↑ Donald Bentley at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  3. 1 2 "Donald Lyon Bentley". statistics.stanford.edu. Retrieved October 4, 2024.
  4. ↑ "Contributions to counter theory with applications to rod vision". searchworks.stanford.edu. Retrieved October 4, 2024.
  5. 1 2 Kendall, Mark (November 14, 2012). "D.B. and That Number". Pomona College Magazine. Vol. 49, no. 1. Retrieved September 14, 2022.
  6. 1 2 Dolinar, Sarah (Fall 2000). "The Mystery of 47". Pomona College Magazine. Vol. 37, no. 1. Archived from the original on December 5, 2012.
  7. ↑ "List of Presidents of the Southern California Chapter of the American Statistical Association". American Statistical Association. Retrieved October 4, 2024.
  8. ↑ "ASA Fellows". American Statistical Association. Retrieved October 4, 2024.
  9. ↑ "1964". Pomona College Timeline. Pomona College. Archived from the original on August 7, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  10. ↑ "The Mystery of 47". Pomona College Magazine. Spring 2015. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  11. ↑ Lipka, Sara (February 11, 2005). "Pomona's Prime Number" . The Chronicle of Higher Education . Archived from the original on October 29, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  12. ↑ Rowan, Brendan (November 5, 2010). "Clock Tower Bell Set to Chime On the 47th Minute". The Student Life . Archived from the original on July 31, 2019. Retrieved April 7, 2019.
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